The Umbrella Academy stars in: Famous Last Words
by Atlas Arrow
Summary: Last of the "Stars In" series. When Vanya finds a secret that puts thier family's already strained unity to the test, she is surprised to find an ally in Rumor. Kraken/Vanya some Rumor/Spaceboy. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1: Mama

_We'll never let you go.  
And when you go don't return to me my love.  
Mama, we're all full of lies_

"Now you do your homework," Rumor signed to her young daughter, "alright?"

Claire pouted as she looked at her math problems. She'd complained that double-digit subtraction was difficult and that she shouldn't have to do it. From what Rumor had managed to glean there had been absolutely no work ethic at Patrick's house. Rumor was determined that things would be different with her.

It was difficult to tell Claire no to anything though. The jury, however, could still take her away. So she was trying to be the model mother in every way possible. It wasn't easy.

"Tell you what," signed Rumor, "I'll let you have some ice-cream when you finish, alright?"

That probably wasn't such a good idea. Firstly bribing Claire probably wouldn't work in the future, and secondly they only had the super-sugary type that Séance kept bringing home. She'd need to go out and buy something more child-appropriate now. Maybe .05 was right. She probably was reading too many parenting magazines.

Claire's reaction to the bribe was instantaneous. Immediately she picked up her pencil and started scribbling on the sheet of paper. Rumor sighed as she started heading down the hall towards her room to get her purse. Things were difficult now, having a child in the building. Everyone had somehow managed to get around it though. Even Kraken attempted to watch his language around her.

They weren't there at the moment though. There had been a call from a base in Antarctica that a clan of Yetis had been awoken from a five-thousand year slumber and started terrorizing the populace. That left only three people in the house. This made it increasingly difficult to avoid Vanya.

Overall Rumor had generally been avoiding Vanya for the past ten days since she got Claire back. Ever since then she had been wondering about where she stood with her sister. More specifically, she had been wondering where she stood with forgiving her. She had found it was easier just to avoid her.

She searched her cupboards and closets. Her purse wasn't there. Thinking back she realized she'd left it in the bathroom when she'd put on her make-up that morning. Cursing her forgetfulness she walked down the hallway towards the bathroom. She had no idea how long it would take for Claire to finish the worksheet and she already knew that her daughter was a very impatient girl.

So the minute Rumor got there she flung the door open. She was in a hurry and in no mood to be delayed. In theory she would've gone in, gotten her purse, and rushed down to the supermarket. Instead she stopped short, slightly embarrassed.

The thing about the bathroom door was that it never really locked properly. They really had to call someone to fix that. Of course, they said that about once every month and it had been that way for ten years. If Rumor had been smart she might've noticed that the light was still on. She hadn't though, so she was faced with staring at Vanya, whose hands were gripping the sink. Vanya's head was bowed downward, but it had shot up when she saw Rumor.

"I didn't know someone was in here…" Rumor started to sign.

She stopped short when she saw Vanya's eyes. They had the look of someone hunted, someone who was faced with a difficult dilemma. Rumor's eyes trailed to the amount of trash on the floor; wrappings. Wrappings that looked oddly familiar

"Vanya," she signed, "What are those?"

All Vanya did was moan and fall backwards so that her back was pressed against the bathtub. Quickly Rumor took her notepad out of her pocket. She didn't use it so much since she knew sign language now, using it only to deal with people who didn't. Or, of course, in a case such as this when she wasn't sure the person was paying attention.

"What are those?" Rumor wrote, repeating her question.

Vanya didn't say anything; she just leaned her head back, her hand clutching something. Rumor looked at her clasped hand a little closer. Comprehension dawned as she recognized it. She especially recognized the symbols. Vanya turned to Rumor with pleading in her eyes.

"Don't tell anyone," she begged, "Please."

"You're pregnant?" wrote Rumor furiously.

Dropping the test Vanya buried her hands in her hair..

"Is the father Diego?" Rumor scrawled.

"Who else?" moaned Vanya.

"Does he know?" wrote Rumor.

"No," murmured Vanya, "He hasn't been back. I haven't told anyone about this. Please don't!"

"I would think you would tell Diego eventually," Rumor scribbled.

She took a tentative step towards her sister. Her foot crunched on the wrappings from the tests. It was apparent that Vanya had used the whole box of tests in her desperation not to be pregnant

"I know, just not now!" said Vanya.

Frowning Rumor wrote down;

"A child isn't necessarily a bad thing you know."

Bitter laughter escaped Vanya's lips as she saw the note.

"It shouldn't be," said Vanya, tears coming from her eyes. She was biting her lips so hard that blood came out.

"So you want to get rid of it?" Rumor wrote coldly.

"That's not it!" exclaimed Vanya, on the brink of tears, "There's so many things…Diego and I…we're not married….he won't…it's just…I don't think…but I don't want an abortion…I…I just want…oh Christ!"

Rumor felt pangs of sympathy as she watched Vanya hug herself tightly. When she'd been pregnant with Claire she'd been worried too. Of course, it had been for a completely different reason. Hargreeves had contacted her and mentioned off-handedly that he was interested in seeing if the child would have powers. After that Rumor had spent most of her time worrying that he would somehow take her child away from her.

In the end Claire hadn't had powers and everything had turned out alright. Vanya's case was quite different. She shuddered to think what Hargreeves would've done if he was alive. She felt the sudden urge to give some sort of comfort to her estranged sister. In an attempt to do so she wrote;

"Tests can be defective sometimes. You'd have to go to a doctor to be 100% sure."

At this point it was obvious that Vanya was willing to clutch at straws. Even she looked skeptical though.

"It's worth a try," scribbled Rumor defensively, "and if you are pregnant then they'll tell you things you need to know. Don't worry about anyone finding out before you want them to. My lips are sealed."

"Thank you," Vanya whispered, her head bowed.

"We'll schedule an appointment," Rumor wrote, "And try not to worry about this too much, alright?"


	2. Chapter 2: Heaven Help Us

_Make your choice  
They say you've been pleading  
Someone save us  
Heaven help us now_

Vanya had worried. She had been positively oozing worry from her pores. Rumor had tried to calm her down as she scheduled an appointment with the City hospital. The only opening was for the next day at three. She had tried to see if they could arrange something sooner, but that was the only slot open. Reluctantly she had booked it. After that she had given her daughter some ice-cream and turned on the TV. Then she had focused on the most difficult task; trying to keep Vanya sane.

Rumor wasn't even sure of where to begin. She'd set the laptop so that their conversation could go faster. Growing up no one had been better in typing class then Rumor. Which, looking back, turned out to be a good thing. She started out by addressing the chief concern.

"Do you have something against children?" typed Rumor.

Vanya shook her head.

"Like I said earlier," she replied, "I did think about having kids. But it was always in the future, always something that I would bring up with Diego 'some day'. It's just…it's kind of been sprung on me. I actually like the idea of having children. It's just…"

Rumor waited patiently as Vanya's voice trailed off. Finally she typed;

"You don't think you're ready to be a mother?"

"No," Vanya said shortly, "I don't. How exactly is a mother supposed to act? I mean, the way ours does isn't even possible for humans. I don't want this child to grow up like us. But that's actually nominal compared to my big worry. You see…I just want to know that it'll be loved. I'll love it, even if I can't do anything else. But…."

The light bulb came on over Rumor's head. She typed;

"You're worried about Diego's reaction."

"Try putting the words 'Diego' and 'father' in a sentence together and not laughing," Vanya said, near hysterical, "If you can, then tell me because I've been trying to do it for the last hour and it hasn't been working!"

"Calm down," wrote Rumor.

"He's not going to like this," Vanya said, nowhere near calm, "He hates parents. Fathers in particular."

"We all hate fathers," Rumor wrote.

"He hates them more."

"It's probably just a generalization."

"Yes, and that's the problem. Diego doesn't want to be one," sighed Vanya.

"You don't know that."

"Fine then," Vanya snapped, "Tell me if you've ever heard, or heard of, him expressing a fondness for children in any form."

Rumor wanted to lie. It was something that she was good at. However, seeing that it wouldn't be appreciated in this particular situation (She also didn't know the words for 'knife wielding is a good parenting skill' in sign language) she said nothing.

"I thought so," Vanya said, looking down sadly, "I can't do this alone, and I can't lose him."

For a few moments Rumor's hands hovered over the keyboard. Then she typed up;

"He loves you. I don't think you'll lose him. And don't worry about doing this alone. I'll try to help."

Vanya paused for a minute and gave Rumor a hard look.

"I'm not going to mince words. I know you hate me," said Vanya, "I know that you blame me for what I did back then. So why help me now?"

Once again she paused, not quite sure what to write. Rumor had her reasons for helping her sister. Vanya didn't need to know them though. Rumor was set on telling a whopper of a lie before she saw the look in Vanya's eyes. Once again she could see that the last thing Vanya needed right now was someone lying to her. So pushing back her instincts she wrote down;

"I'm kind of wondering about that myself. Perhaps it's because I feel sorry for you right now. Maybe I'm trying to make up for being a bad sister. I don't really know. But I do know that one reason is the fact that you don't hate ME. It's sort of odd that way."

Of course, it was also about what Vanya had done for Claire. Seeing as Vanya had wanted to do it anonymously, though, Rumor had decided not to mention it. Either way, that answer apparently satisfied Vanya. She looked down at the floor.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Don't worry about it," Rumor typed, "There's absolutely no reason for you to worry right now. None at all."

The door to the complex opened, signaling the arrival of their brothers. Vanya abruptly clenched her hands on her lap and went rigid. Rumor quickly turned off the laptop, deleting their conversation only seconds before the rest of the family came into the room. Each one of them shook off snow impatiently.

"Damn yetis," Kraken muttered.

With the help of some advanced surgery Kraken was able to move around. He was still a bit sore and it showed in his new walk and the scars on his face. Rumor had once heard Vanya tell him that he shouldn't go out in his condition, but as usual Kraken had gone his own way on it.

He looked up to see Rumor's disapproving look.

"What?" he asked.

"You're back!" Claire said, setting down her bowl of ice-cream and getting up to greet her uncles.

(How dare he swear in front of **her **child?) Rumor folded her arms together.

"I didn't know she was in the room!" he protested.

"The snow fall is getting bigger," Spaceboy observed, "Perhaps there is something going on up there? It's like reverse global warming. It's becoming a problem to travel in too. Maybe we should do something about that."

"What are you complaining about?" snapped .05, "The snow only comes up to your waist. It buries **me**."

Claire ran up and hugged Spaceboy. Despite many protests from .05 and Kraken, Claire had assigned the Hargreeves boys as her 'loving' uncles.

"Best get out of here before she gives me one," Kraken said dryly to Vanya.

He turned and gave his half-grin at her. This wouldn't be such a big deal if Vanya didn't look like she had been smacked with a suitcase then told that her puppy had died.

"Are you alright?" he frowned.

Seeing a potential disaster Rumor quickly took out a notepad and wrote down;

"She hasn't been feeling so good today."

Vanya quickly picked up on the lie.

"Think it's the flu or something," she said dismissively.

Kraken was about to say something when Claire hugged him from behind.

"Get off me you munchkin!" he yelled as he tried to shove her off.

"You're so funny," she said, hugging him tighter.

Vanya shot a despairing look at Rumor, who decided she would have **words** with Kraken later. Rumor signaled for Vanya to make her escape as she shoved a crumpled piece of paper into Vanya's hands. When Vanya had made it to her room she unfolded it and read the hastily scrawled note;

"It'll be fine. Try to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

Gulping in air Vanya shoved the note in her pocket.

"Heaven help me," she murmured.


	3. Chapter 3: Our Lady of Sorrows

_We could be perfect one last night  
And die like star-crossed lovers when we fight  
And we can settle this affair  
If you would shed your yellow take my hand  
And then we'll solve the mystery of laceration gravity_

For the rest of the day, Vanya had avoided Kraken like the plague. Rumor figured that Vanya knew she had a tell-tale face. Indeed, it did look like she was guilty about something whenever Rumor saw her. The avoiding treatment might've worked, if Kraken was an idiot. Unfortunately for Vanya he wasn't.

He looked confused and Rumor couldn't blame him. When he'd left that morning Vanya had given him a kiss goodbye. Now she left the room whenever he came in. Kraken hadn't actually been able to hold a conversation with her. The new tension had been picked up by .05, who had made the snickering remark;

"Had a little lover's spat have we?"

Kraken had looked like he had been about to kill him. Everyone in the Umbrella Academy knew .05 he could beat them hands down though. So instead Kraken had settled for saying;

"Get Lupo to issue that special driver's license yet?"

Now it had been .05's turn to glare. Luckily Spaceboy had called him away before anything happened. For the rest of the night the household had lapsed into an uneasy peace. Rumor had just put Claire to bed and was now drinking a cup of coffee. She did that whenever she was trying to think about something. And Vanya's predicament certainly needed a good deal of thinking about.

Complicated, that's what it was. Most of Vanya's worries had been what Rumor had lost sleep over when she'd been pregnant with Claire. Rumor had actually read in a magazine (Had it been _Parenting _or _Motherhood_?) that those were worries that most mothers worried about. Not being adequate was a general theme. It was supposed to get better in time. So those could be brushed off for now.

The real problem was nearly six feet tall, had blonde hair, wore a mask, and tended to fiddle with a knife more then was good for him. Despite the reassurances she had given Vanya she knew that Kraken didn't want to be a father. A blind man could see that. His habit to ignore the advice of others was worrying. Not to mention his insane anger issues. Oh, and his violent streak. All in all, not the best candidate for fatherhood.

If he wanted to, he could probably change though. Rumor had seen the difference in him when he and Vanya had gotten together. Kraken had changed in subtle, but important ways. Rumor took a sip of coffee. It was a long shot, but it could work. Well, it would have to if Vanya was to avoid having a nervous breakdown.

So the situation wasn't completely hopeless, keeping in mind that the key word was completely. They'd know for sure what the situation was tomorrow. Of course, it could always turn out that the tests had been defective. Rumor doubted that a whole box would be though. In any case, tomorrow would be tough for Vanya. Rumor would have to have a box of tissues ready.

That was another thing. Deep down Rumor knew the real reason why she was helping Vanya, and it had little to do with Claire or even Vanya not hating her. Rumor was beginning to get the suspicion that she had forgiven her estranged sister. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

Overall the day had been busy and, there was that word again, **complicated**. Sighing to herself she took a sip of coffee. She hated complicated things. Her lies were very limited these days, so she couldn't really do anything about it. Even though Claire was back her life was still only steps above shambles. Alright, her personal life. Now that day had turned everything on its head.

On one hand she had a depressed, pregnant sister (Never a good combination) with a boyfriend wouldn't like her being so. On the other hand she had her own problems, more mental than physical. She had a daughter who could be taken away and as for the man (Or at least of the _homo sapien _persuasion) she wished was her significant other, well…

"Interesting day," Space remarked, startling her into spilling the coffee all over the table.

"Sorry," he said, handing her a napkin.

Glaring angrily at him Rumor took out her notepad and wrote;

"Interesting. Yes. Now what do you want?"

Space paused for a minute.

"What's wrong with Vanya?" he said.

"Excuse me?" wrote Rumor.

"Something's wrong with her," shrugged Spaceboy, "Everyone can see it. I just want to know what."

Coolly Rumor mopped up the spilt coffee.

"Why would I know?" she scribbled.

"I saw you two talking when I came in," he snorted, "It doesn't take a genius to figure out the rest. Now what's going on here?"

For a minute Rumor was about to write 'It's a secret.' Then she stopped. That was one of the first times he had talked to her all day, and it was to ask if someone else had something wrong with them. He just came in, made her spill her coffee, and started to act commanding. Not only that, but she knew he wasn't really worried about Vanya. He was only worried about the problems that it might cause the _team_.

He hadn't actually talked to her about the kiss once it had happened. Sure it had been a manifestation of a lie, but she had always thought that he might not mind. Now he was acting like it hadn't happened. It was like he didn't care. Now he just came in and thought that he could order her around. Suddenly Rumor got very angry.

"Just piss off," she wrote.

Space looked surprised by her vehemence. He was even more surprised when she wrote;

"Do you care about me, or was it just getting lied to that you liked?"

"I was just asking…" he started.

Her feelings had been building for awhile, but now they came to a head. Without thinking about it she slapped him. It probably would've been more impressive if she hadn't had to stand on her tip-toes to do it though. She glared at him for a good while before turning on her heel and leaving the room. More speechless then Rumor Space stared after her.

"What did I do?" he asked the world at length.


	4. Chapter 4: Sleep

_So shut your eyes,  
Kiss me goodbye,  
And sleep.  
Just sleep._

Following Rumor's advice that night was harder then she thought it would be. Insomnia had decided to visit her and keep her from not having to think about the implications of the next day. It probably didn't help that she had turned in at seven. She hadn't gone to bed that early since she'd been ten. There was no other way to avoid Kraken though. It was difficult to try and avoid someone who was looking for you when you both lived in the same house.

She'd also broken her pattern in coming to bed that early. It wasn't actually the fact that she'd gone to bed before her usual time. Vanya had gotten used to having Kraken's arm draped across her shoulder as she drifted off. They had been slightly uncomfortable around each other for the first few days since they had started dating. Time was precious though and both of them were sick of waiting.

Part of the wall to his room was missing from a fight Kraken had had with Space in her absence. So he had come to her room. He had 'moved in' with her about a year ago. He'd been highly protective of her and always ended up pulling her close when they went to sleep. It was something that she had gotten used to.

Kraken obviously preferred the world when it was just going to sleep, he was something of a night owl. So it was logical that he wouldn't be there now. Once or twice he had actually clocked in at three a.m. Sometimes she'd waited up for him because she couldn't sleep, literally.

If someone had asked her two months ago if she thought about having kids soon she'd have laughed at them. Then she'd probably have made a comment about both of the people in question being ill-suited to parenthood. Now she could imagine that spectral questioner laughing at her. They probably needed someone to help them up or knock them out so that they could get enough air to breath. She was starting to hate that imaginary inquisitor.

Motherhood. The last time she had thought about being a mother was when she was eight. She'd gotten a doll from somewhere and pretended it was hers. Later Hargreeves had thrown it into the fireplace when she'd been playing with it instead of listening to him. That night Kraken had given her the rattle he had fished out of the ashes. Vanya was pretty sure that it was somewhere in her bureau. She didn't think about it a lot. The experience wasn't something she liked to remember. Not at all.

Turning to her side Vanya contemplated the unfairness of it all. How dare the world allow her to get pregnant? Why couldn't someone who was ready for children have them? Vanya didn't even know where to start in being a good mother. Her biological mother had abandoned her and her adopted one had just baked her soufflés and told her how big she was getting. Not that the soufflés hadn't tasted good, but she wanted to be someone her child could depend on.

She was willing to make the effort though. There wasn't any other avenue open. Vanya would learn how to be a good parent. She wanted to try. Now she just had to convince herself that Kraken would have the same reaction. That probably wasn't going to happen.

Heaven above she was scared. What was she supposed to do? Oh, she knew what she would have to do. There was no way around it; she'd have to tell Kraken. If she was truly pregnant that is. Yes, there was that glimmer of hope. Perhaps all of the tests had been defective. Vanya didn't have a lot of faith in that theory though.

The door to the room opened and Vanya made sure that her eyes were closed. Vanya heard a soft sigh before the blankets were pulled up. An arm draped itself across her shoulders. Already she felt sleep coming to her. Damn him and his comfortable arm.

.

.

.

The next morning dawned brightly. In her sleep Vanya had shifted so that she was facing him. Surprisingly Kraken was already awake by the time she opened her eyes.

"Look who's sleeping in," he said dryly.

Vanya glanced blearily at the clock. It was ten o'clock. Something important happened in five hours, but she couldn't really remember what. Her mind was always sort of fuzzy when she had just woken up.

"Considering how early you went to sleep," he noted, "I expected you to be up and about a lot sooner."

She shrugged noncommittally, not quite knowing what he was talking about.

"I wonder," he murmured, sliding his hand from her shoulder to her cheek, "Would I catch it if I kiss you?"

Not waiting for an answer he leaned in, leaving a whisper of the kiss against her lips. Still without a clue of what he thought he would catch she encircled her arms around his chest and pulled him closer. He deepened the kiss and she decided that whatever was happening at three couldn't be that important. Not compared to this.

Kraken sighed and pulled her up so that she was pressed up against his chest. The movement was sudden and Vanya stopped, her brow furrowed. Kraken's grip on her loosened.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

It felt like the contents of the previous night's dinner were trying to escape. Making a face Vanya jumped from the bed and made a break for the bathroom. She got there just in time to throw up. Now she remembered. Morning sickness. Now there was morning sickness. How the hell was she supposed to deal with this on top of everything else? Damn it, why did everything have to be so hard?

She heard Kraken's footsteps a minute before he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Still sick?" he asked.

Her ill-conceived lie from the day before came into her memory.

"Yeah," she managed.

"Maybe I'll catch it," said Kraken humorously.

"I seriously doubt that," she said, a slight edge of bitterness creeping into her voice.

Her stomach started to feel upset again.

"Ughhhh…" she moaned, "I think it's coming again."

"Do you want me to-" he started

"I think you've done enough!" snapped Vanya.

Kraken recoiled as though she had slapped him.

"Alright," he answered, looking at her strangely.

Tentatively he shut the door to the bathroom. Vanya moaned again. Three o'clock was more important than ever, though it seemed increasingly pointless.


	5. Chapter 5: The Desert Song

_**A/N:**__ Sorry about the late update. was acting up, but luckily its fixed now._

_Did we all fall down?  
From the lights to the pavement  
From the van to the floor  
From backstage to the doctor_

"You've done enough?" signed Rumor.

Both of the Hargreeves girls had hopped a street car to the hospital later that day. Because they had said it was an ordinary shopping trip they had had to take Claire along. Claire was overjoyed at the prospect of going somewhere with her mother and aunt. The two of them were somewhat less enthusiastic. On the way there Vanya had told Rumor the events of that morning.

"I was angry," muttered Vanya, "It's just, I had forgotten all about it and then it comes back to me in one of the worst possible ways. It's just I was so overwhelmed and the last thing that I wanted was for things to get complicated…"

"Can I get ice cream?" asked Claire as she looked out of her window eagerly.

"Maybe later," signed Rumor, "Aunt Vanya and I need to talk about boring grown up things, alright?"

Sticking out her bottom lip Claire pouted and turned away. Rumor shook her head in pity at Vanya.

"Sucking on a ginger root will help with the sickness," Rumor signed, "It helped for me. But you're going to have to figure out how to tell Diego."

She paused for a moment.

"If, of course," she added, "It turns out that you are pregnant."

The look Vanya shot her plainly told Rumor to shut up while she was ahead. So Rumor decided they could ride without conversation, something that Vanya seemed to appreciate. The girl had a lot on her mind, and since the trip was quite long, she had plenty of time. The entire ride was silent, broken only occasionally by an exclamation from Claire.

Everything was going alright until Claire realized that they were going to the hospital.

"You're trying to give me a shot!" Claire wailed.

"No," Rumor attempted.

"I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot!" repeated Claire as if it would somehow stop it from happening.

"We're here for me," Vanya tried to explain.

"You're gonna give me a shot!"

"No one's going to give you a shot!" promised Rumor.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Claire started to scream.

Several people outside the hospital had stopped to stare. Once again Rumor realized that she would need to use bribing tactics.

"If you be quiet then I'll get you some ice cream."

Claire shut up almost immediately.

"Also," signed Rumor, "if you don't tell your uncles anything that you hear today you'll get five scoops, alright?"

A smile the size of the world on her face Claire wiped her eyes and clutched her mother's hand. It was like she was determining to be brave for the sake of some tasty ice cream. Rumor checked in under the false names she had used on the phone. Since Rumor had offered a rather good bribe no one had thought twice about it.

The bribe had also gotten them rather speedy service, even if they were served only by a doctor who looked old enough to have invented fire. Claire was quite scared of Dr. Springheel. Of course, Claire had visibly relaxed once she understood that they were indeed there for Vanya. One of the first things the doctor did was confirm that Vanya was, in fact, pregnant. Neither of them were surprised.

The second thing that he did was congratulate her with a kind of weird snickering laugh. Rumor had met his congratulations with a death glare. After that he had decided to keep his thoughts to himself.

"You can call with any questions, comments or concerns, heh," Dr. Springheel said, "You're, heh, next checkup should be in a month."

"One question," Vanya said quietly, her voice surprisingly steady for her situation, "When will it start…showing?"

"Well, I'd say that you're…heh…about six weeks along," he snickered, "And, uh, most women show at…heh…anywhere from fourteen to twenty weeks so…heh…that's what you'll be looking at."

"That's all," Vanya said, starting to fiddle with her watch.

"Alright…I'll heh…be going then," he said, ambling out of the room with a sort of shuffling gait.

A few thoughts started to come into Rumor's head about the stupidity of making a person as tactless as Dr. Springheel the one to break the news to new mothers.

"What's pregnant?"

Rumor gave her daughter a thorough once over. Claire was in first grade, and her eyes shined up curiously. Hasty to avoid the truth, Rumor thought for about five minutes before signing;

"It means that she's sick."

"Oh," frowned Claire, "Then it's a bad thing, right?"

At her niece's words Vanya started crying. Rumor moved over quickly and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Six weeks," she moaned, "I can't believe I've been pregnant for **six weeks** and I didn't notice! I don't think I can do this…"

"Why's she crying?" asked Claire, looking slightly upset.

"It happens," Rumor signed, "Grown-ups cry every now and then."

As Vanya's sobs increased Rumor put her whole arm over her shoulders. She tried as best she could to comfort her sister, but Vanya wouldn't stop crying.


	6. Chapter 6: Jack the Ripper

_And oh, you look so tired  
Well but tonight you presume too much  
Too much, I said too much_

"Hurry up. We don't want to be late," one orderly said to another.

"Yeah," he said as he picked up his jacket, "My brother's gonna be super pissed if we're late again."

"He's got a good reason," the other orderly said, "You need to get out more. You're way too pale."

Both orderlies chuckled at that. Indeed, the second orderly did look as though he hadn't seen the sun in a very long time. As he put his coat on, a sheet of paper fell out of his pocket. Frowning he stopped down to pick it up. Turning it over he could see a skull with cross bones, like the jolly roger of a pirate ship.

"Ah shit," he muttered.

"What was that?" his friend asked.

"I uh…" he paused quickly as he tried to think up a good lie, "I left my keys in the morgue. I'm gonna have to go and get them if I don't want to sleep on the street tonight."

"Bad luck," his friend said, "The morgue's really creepy at this time of night. I could go with you if-"

"No," the orderly said quickly, maybe a little too quickly, "Just go and tell Mikey that I'm going to be late. I don't want him getting pissed at both of us."

"Fine," shrugged his friend, "But you'd better end up showing. Gabriel's going to be there and everything. Just be quick about it."

"I'll try," he replied as his friend walked down the halls.

Groaning he walked down the flight of stairs to the morgue. Of all the nights, it just had to be tonight, didn't it? Still muttering about the unfairness of all he unlocked the morgue and turned on the lights. He didn't bother locking the door behind him. That would defeat the purpose.

A few minutes later he heard a slight swishing noise. He sighed.

"I suppose that this is about Mary Smith?" he asked no one in particular.

"And Elizabeth Messor and Charlotte King," Kraken said as he emerged from the shadows, "Three separate women, Three different nights. Only one name released to the press. Interesting, wouldn't you say George?"

The orderly rolled his eyes, but he was used to Kraken getting his name wrong. Sometimes he wished he hadn't been rescued that night just so he wouldn't owe him this stupid favor. Sometimes he wished that he just wasn't in charge of the morgue. Maybe then he would've been bothered less.

"They're in compartments 27a, 27b and 28a" he said as he tossed him the keys, "Can I go now?"

"In a hurry?" Kraken asked as he unlocked the compartments.

"As a matter of fact, yes," the orderly snapped as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Then you'll be cooperative," shrugged Kraken as he pulled out the corpses.

"All of their throats were cut," said a rapidly irritated orderly, "Then their intestines thrown over their shoulders. In some of them this guy took a couple of organs, like the heart in Elizabeth. Also, one interesting feature. All of the wombs were-"

"Removed?"

"How'd you know?"

"This has been done before," Kraken said, pulling back the plastic on one of them, "There's no originality these days. It's just Jack the Ripper all over again."

"That's what the cops said," shrugged the orderly.

Kraken studied the corpse for a few minutes. The orderly paused for a minute before saying;

"Your…" he searched for the right word. He'd heard about Kraken's relationship with his adopted sister, so he was hesitant to use the word.

"What?" Kraken asked absently.

"Your sister came by earlier today," he said, giving up on trying to figure out the right words to use.

Immediately Kraken turned his attention to the orderly.

"Which one?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well-"

"Which one?"

"Both," he said, "I think they were there for…damn I can't remember her name. Oh yeah, Vanya. They brought this kid that kept screaming about ice cream every five fucking minutes-"

"Why?" interrupted Kraken.

"What?"

"Why were they there?" Kraken said impatiently.

"Hells if I know," shrugged the orderly, "They don't tell the orderlies nothing when the patient bribes them like the purple-haired one did."

"That'd be Allison. But you should figure it out," snapped Kraken, "You found out about the bribe, didn't you?"

"All you need to do for that is give Doris some butterfingers," snorted the orderly, "It was easy enough. Finding out information that they specifically paid money to be kept confidential is something else entirely."

Kraken rolled his eyes before replacing the plastic sheet on the corpse and near slamming the compartments back into the structure. The orderly winced as the loud noise echoed through the abandoned morgue.

"Keep it down, will you?" he asked.

"No," Kraken replied, "And I want you to find out why they were at the hospital. As soon as possible. You know my number."

"Why don't you just ask her?" said the irritated orderly.

He stopped talking when he saw the look on Kraken's face.

"Something….something's been wrong with her lately. I just want to know what," he said, an edge of worry creeping in his voice.

For a second the orderly's eyes widened in shock. Kraken rarely ever sounded anything except apathetic or angry. Shrugging it off he walked to the door and said;

"I'll try my best."

"You'd better Gerald."

The orderly rolled his eyes, but he knew that Kraken wasn't there anymore.

"Orderly!" a doctor yelled at him, "What are you doing down there?"

"Just getting my keys!" he yelled back in irritation.


	7. Chapter 7: Interlude

_Saints protect her now  
come angels of the lord,  
come angels of the lord._

"Why did you get so much peanut butter?" Vanya asked as she took out five jars roughly a week later.

"I thought it was a no-brainer," Rumor signed.

The blank look that Vanya gave her told her that it wasn't. Rolling her eyes Rumor signed;

"You're pregnant. You'll start wanting peanut butter; believe me. That and the chocolate and pickles I got."

Doubtfully Vanya looked at the jars as she put them away. Séance poked his head around the corner. His face scrunched up when he saw the peanut butter jars.

"Ugh, peanuts that are butter," he said, "That's disgusting you know. Butter should come from cows."

"Nice to see you too Klaus," Vanya replied

"It's wrong to eat peanuts that have been degraded like those have," stated Séance loftily.

"Whatever," Rumor wrote, "It's not like it's for you."

"Yeah, well just keep that stuff off of Monsieur," he said distastefully.

"Jesus Klaus," wrote Rumor.

"I'm just saying…" Séance started before he trailed off.

A deep frown came across his face. He scratched his head.

"How many people are there in this room?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Vanya said, looking as though she was worried about her brother.

"Is .05 hiding in one of the cabinets?" he said, looking around the floor as if to catch his brother in the act.

"No," said Vanya in disgust.

"Is your midget here somewhere?" he asked Rumor.

"Her name is Claire," Rumor wrote irritably, "And no, she isn't. Why do you ask?"

Once more Séance frowned. Sighing absently Vanya began stacking the jars in the cupboards.

"It's like I'm feeling that there's three of you in this room," he said.

Out of the corner of her eye Rumor saw Vanya freeze. Séance's slightly psychic powers had often revealed things that no one wanted to know.

"Might just be the fact that I haven't slept in a week, but there you go," he sighed, "In any case, spill a drop of anything in the living room and you will wake up as bald as a bunny."

"Bunnies aren't bald," wrote Rumor.

"That's what **you** think," he said mysteriously as he walked out of the room.

As soon as he was gone Rumor could hear Vanya start to take deep breaths, betraying the fact that she hadn't been breathing when Séance was there.

"I don't think I can do this much longer," whispered Vanya.

"Have you told-?" Rumor started to sign.

"No," Vanya snapped.

Her hand slid up to rest on her stomach. She bit her lip and looked back up at her sister.

"I'm going to have to soon though," she murmured.

.

.

.

"Another victim?" Space asked.

"That makes four," remarked .05.

"Happened last night. Lupo had to release this name to the public," Kraken said, "The press found it before the police this time. They found her on Turnstile Lane."

"Same M.O?" asked Spaceboy as he typed in the new coordinates.

"Exactly the same," Kraken replied, "However, my guy at the morgue says that this time the intestines were just left in a pile by the corpse. Rather sloppily he heard."

"If this guy is removing organs then the intestines would be obstructive," said .05 thoughtfully, "They always clog up the visual field. Removing them isn't demented, it's actually downright logical. It probably doesn't mean anything; he just wants them out of the way."

Spaceboy stopped typing and swiveled around in his chair. Kraken stopped and both brothers turned to give .05 an appraising look.

"You learn these things when you're a time assassin," he shrugged.

"I wouldn't know," said Space as he continued typing, "But doesn't it mean that whoever this is wanted the organs? Perhaps that was the motivation. Some sort of dealer?"

"Checked on that," said Kraken dryly, "Nothing new in the market."

"Well," said Spaceboy, "The computer shows that these attacks all happened in a three mile radius of each other. Only three or four buildings are near each scene. This guy must frequent one of them."

The brothers looked over Space's shoulder and took note of them.

"Hmmm," said .05 thoughtfully, "Maybe we should pay a visit to your friend at the hospital soon? Tomorrow night perhaps? The game is on tonight."

Space and Kraken agreed. As they did so Séance came in grumpily.

"I think I preferred it when our sisters wanted to rip each other's faces off," he complained, "Now they team up on everything. Before the day is out I just know that my poor Monsieur will be smeared with peanut butter."

"Indeed," sighed .05, "Truly this is the first sign of the apocalypse. She's your girlfriend Kraken, what do you say?"

.05 knew perfectly well how things were with him and Vanya. So the look Kraken shot him was pure hatred.

"She's in this with Rumor," mused .05, "Here's my advice. When women plot something together, find out what it is. And fast."


	8. Chapter 8: Headfirst for Halos

_Come on!  
Well now I'm back in the middle of the day that starts it all.  
I can't begin to let you know just what I'm feeling_

Kraken had never been any good at dealing with delicate situations. When faced with a problem that would make anyone else cry, he would just get angry. Then he would end up throwing someone through a window. So even he was surprised at how well he was hiding Vanya's obvious reluctance to be anywhere near him. Sooner or later though, everyone knew the dam would burst.

It happened in a very short time and very quickly. No one could see it coming, thought they knew it had been building. The whole affair was kick-started by an accidental discovery, one that would've been better kept quiet.

"That's it!" he yelled, stalking into the room he shared with Vanya and slamming the door, "What the hell is going on?"

Vanya dropped the magazine she'd been reading and nearly jumped out of her chair.

"What…" she stammered, "What are you talking about?"

"You know," growled Kraken angrily.

Any remnants of color left in Vanya's face drained out.

"I…." she started.

"You should've told me!" he shouted, sinking his fist into the wall.

Breathing deeply Vanya tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"I didn't want to tell you…yet," she added quickly, "Because I knew you'd act like this. That's not…it's…when I thought…what I wanted was…it wasn't..."

"Then what do you want from me?" he snarled, "You should just tell me if…if…"

For a minute his anger seemed to render him incapable of speaking. Finally he choked out;

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Excuse me?" Vanya asked.

Once more Kraken pounded his fist into the wall.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG?!" he shouted.

Vanya flinched and she moved deeper into her chair. He looked at her almost desperately with pain lacing his eyes.

"You're…" she murmured, "You're not…doing anything wrong…not really…"

His face contorted back to anger.

"Then what are these for?" he hissed, throwing her a bottle.

Confused, Vanya caught it. Looking at the label, she could see that it was the anti-depression pills she had been taking lately. Relief flooded her. He didn't know yet.

"Why do you **need **these?" he snarled.

The relief was quickly replaced with apprehension. What must he be thinking?

"This isn't what it looks like-" began Vanya.

"Then what's it for?" he asked.

As Vanya tried to come up with a good lie Kraken seemed to take her silence as an answer.

"I know I'm not the best boyfriend in the world," he said, gritting his teeth, "I'm sorry that I'm not. But if I'm making you unhappy then the least you can do is tell me what I've done. That way I can stop it damn it!

Perhaps I'm stupid but I can't figure out why things are like this. Everything was fine until those damned yetis. What did you decide in those hours that made you need to take ANTI-DEPRESSANTS?"

Looking down Vanya tried to form words.

"Nothing happened, it's just-"

"What?!" he snapped.

"Stop yelling at me," she said, still staring at the floor.

"What? Do I yell too much or something? Is that it?" he snapped, "What's going on? You avoid me like I'm some sort of disease for a week and you start taking anti-depressants!"

"Stop…please…just…"

In quick steps Kraken had reached Vanya's chair. He grabbed the chair's armrests and yelled;

"I repeat; WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING WRONG?!"

"Stop yelling!" she shouted, looking up.

Kraken was taken back by her appearance. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes and blood was coming from her lips. One of her hands flew to her eyes to try to push away the furiously flowing tears. Kraken let go of the arm rests and took a few tentative steps backwards.

"I'm…" he started almost desperately, "I didn't mean for….I didn't want you to…I just…I'm…"

Vanya was now openly sobbing, her head buried in her hands.

"I…I'm…" he murmured, moving forward as if he meant to touch her, "I wasn't…I was just…I didn't mean…"

He stopped before touching her.

"I…I'm sorry," he said, "I…I'm just making it worse, aren't I?…Oh, God damn it."

As he said that he turned and ran out of the room. He closed the door quietly behind him. Kraken didn't see Vanya look up and reach her hand out, as though she wanted to stop him. Some time later Rumor came into the room.

"I heard yelling-" she started to sign, before she saw Vanya's tears.

Without saying a word she walked up to Vanya and offered her her handkerchief.

"I can't do this anymore," sobbed Vanya as she attempted to mop up her eyes, "I can't go on like this. I'm hurting him. It's not really his fault. I'm just…scared. I'm scared to do it."

Rumor placed a hand on her sister's shoulder and tried to comfort her the best she could.


	9. Chapter 9: The World is Ugly

_The world is ugly,  
But you're beautiful to me.  
Are you thinking of me?  
Like I'm thinking of you_

Space walked through the wreckage of the old Hargreeves mansion. He found Kraken balancing on an old ceiling beam. He gave him a cursory look before turning his attention back to the sky.

"I'm guessing you heard," Kraken said tiredly.

"I'm pretty sure the Eskimos we saved from the yetis heard that," Space said dryly, "What happened?"

Once again Kraken looked at the skies and there was silence. Space shrugged. He had even less experience in this sort of thing than Kraken. The last time he had tried to talk to Rumor she had made a point of ignoring him. So he was supposed to have made the first move? It's not like she had told him that it would be welcome. He wished someone had told him that it was on him. They hadn't, and now he was stuck.

Not to mention his brother's relationship was in the pits too. At least Space had figured out what he'd done wrong. Kraken had absolutely no idea. There should've been a manual somewhere: _How Anti-Social Boys Are Supposed To Deal With Girls _was what it should be called. Unfortunately no one had bothered.

"For a long time…I deluded myself into thinking that it didn't matter if she felt the same way," said Kraken at last, "I told myself it only mattered if she **existed**. As long as she was out there somewhere, then that was enough for me. Like you and Allison."

"Excuse me?" Spaceboy said.

Kraken gave him a cursory glance.

"Don't tell me that you didn't feel anything when you heard that she was getting married. You told her you had 'work' to do, so you couldn't go to the wedding?"

"I did," replied Space brittly.

"You could've put it off," snorted Kraken, "If you can tell me with a straight face that that wasn't the worst day of your life then I'd still call you a damned liar."

Space didn't say anything. For once Kraken had hit something with his brother right on the money.

"Thought so."

"We're not talking about me," said Spaceboy coolly, "We're talking about you."

A few seconds of silence passed.

"I figured out awhile ago," he continued, "when we first got together, that I'd been lying to myself. Being with her was what I wanted. Now it's all leaving me.

I'm losing her Space. I'm losing her and I don't even know why. She won't tell me. Somehow I'm making her miserable. I think I'm missing something, something important, something that should be obvious. Except to me."

"How do you even know it's your fault?" asked Spaceboy, raising an eyebrow.

A wry smile came across Kraken's face, completely devoid of humor.

"I know."

It was always safer to talk about work then relationships. No manuals were required for that. All in all, the job was much simpler then dealing with real life. That was why Space had stuck to it for so many years, running from a world that could give you so much joy but so very much pain.

"Still coming to the hospital?" Space asked, "That was one of the buildings near all the attacks."

"Might as well," Kraken replied as he climbed down from the beam, "Séance and .05 coming?"

"Yeah," Space said, relieved that they had gone back into safe territory again.

.

.

.

That night Vanya received an email. It was from Dr. Springheel telling her that there was some sort of irregularity with her tests. In short she would have to come in. Shrugging with defeat she got up and started to put on her coat.

"Where are you going?" Rumor signed.

"The hospital," Vanya muttered.

Frowning Rumor signed;

"You're in no condition to go anywhere tonight."

"Thanks," Vanya said dryly, "but right now I need to go to the hospital. After everything…"

Vanya's hand slid up to rest on her stomach.

"I don't think I can lose it."

Rumor watched her sister put on her coat.

"I'll come with you," signed Rumor.

"What about Claire?" asked Vanya as she laced up her shoes.

"Asleep," signed Rumor as she shrugged, "Hopefully for the rest of the night. Now let's get going."


	10. Chapter 10: Hang 'em High

_Grab your six-gun from your back  
Throttle the ignition  
Would I die for you?  
Well here's your answer in spades_

Lights went on in the dusty morgue. The orderly looked around, slightly confused at first. A large hand clapped down on his shoulder.

"Jesus!" he yelled, turning around quickly to see a rather bemused Spaceboy.

The orderly looked him up and down. A frown came across his face and he put his hands on his hips.

"This is actually a new one," he said.

"Not entirely," said Kraken as he dropped down from the ceiling.

.05 and Séance emerged from their hiding places. A mixture of irritation and surprise crossed the orderly's features.

"Fun for the whole family?" asked the orderly.

"Not exactly James," Kraken replied, "What I need right now is information and a visual on the latest victim. Samantha Brown?"

"30a," he sighed, once more tossing the keys.

Kraken caught them and unlocked the cabinet.

"As for information, there actually is something," said the orderly, "I looked up their medical files like you told me to. All four of the women were pregnant. Well, only a few weeks along."

.05 walked up to Samantha's corpse thoughtfully.

"That would explain the wombs," he said.

Space nodded to the orderly.

"Your help is appreciated James."

"That's not my name," the orderly corrected.

"That's what he calls you."

"He makes a point of getting my name wrong," the orderly said, narrowing his eyes at Kraken.

"What's your real name then?" asked Spaceboy.

"It's-"

"They didn't use knives," .05 remarked.

"What?" Spaceboy asked.

"The criminal," repeated .05, "He didn't use knives. Look, the cuts are far too rugged for knives. I'd say that it was something more like teeth or…"

He frowned and cocked his head.

"Or what?" inquired Spaceboy as he moved forward.

"This is going to sound ludicrous, even for what I've seen," .05 admitted, "But it looks like they used nails."

"That's stupid," said Séance as Kraken wandered over to the orderly.

As the team muttered and inspected, Kraken looked at the orderly expectantly.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah," the orderly said bitterly as he produced a folder from his coat, "and I nearly lost my job in the process. So you'd better be grateful for this. She went by the name Carroll for future reference."

Without a word Kraken opened the file and started reading.

"Not nails," .05 sighed, "I mean human ones. It's like some weirdo grew their nails long and sharp and just cut these people up."

"Now that is weird," sniffed Séance.

The folder dropped from Kraken's hands, its contents sliding out. Several sheets of paper floated for a few seconds before they hit the floor.

"Are you alright?" the orderly asked, slightly concerned. Only slightly though.

At this inquiry his brothers turned their attention his way.

"Diego?" Space asked.

Séance walked up to him and waved his hands in front of Kraken's face.

"Yoo-hoo?"

"Shut up," snapped Kraken, not so far gone that his brother didn't irritate him.

"He's fine!" called Séance.

Space looked at the scattered he inquired.

"It's Vanya…she's….I can't even begin to…Christ…" he said, running his hands through his hair, "But I need to go home. Now."

As he went for the door the orderly went to his knees and started to pick up the papers.

"Dr. Springheel is gonna be pissed when he sees this," he muttered.

Kraken stopped short and .05 jerked his head up. Séance and Space stopped what they were doing at their brother's shock.

"Dr. Springheel?" asked .05.

"Yeah," said the orderly, starting to feel nervous.

"Dr. **JACK **Springheel?"

.

.

.

"So what was wrong with my tests?" asked Vanya as the doctor gave her a shot.

"It was a heh, irregularity in the blood stream," he coughed while putting the syringe away, "Most likely, heh, I didn't, heh, expect you to bring your heh, sister."

"Why does that matter?" Vanya asked blearily.

She frowned suddenly and blinked once.

"What…?" Vanya murmured.

"Is something wrong?" signed Rumor as she turned towards her sister.

"I…I can't feel my arms," Vanya said.

Rumor looked down and indeed saw that her sister's limbs were trembling. It was like she was trying to move them, but couldn't. Rumor turned to ask the doctor what was going on. She was met with a metal hospital pan to the face. Her head lamed up against the opposite metal table, knocking her out and causing a few cuts. Only a few seconds later Vanya fell backwards. All the strength was gone from her limbs, but she was still completely aware of what was going on.

"That's what it, heh, matters," said Springheel Jack.


	11. Chapter 11: Kill All Your Friends

_And you can sleep in a coffin,  
But the past ain't through with you.  
'Cause we are all a bunch of liars.  
Tell me, baby, who do you wanna be?_

"Now if you heh…cooperate this will go a heh, good deal smoother," Springheel Jack said as he took his time picking out a scalpel, "Heh, heart rates are difficult…heh things and I wouldn't want you to…heh…die from fright."

She had seen worse than what was happening now, so dying from fright wasn't exactly on her to-do list. The look Vanya gave him clearly told him he was going to have to try a lot harder than that.

"Heh…you're not easily heh, scared Ms. Carroll, I'll heh…give you that. But you probably have no, heh, idea what's going to…heh happen," he said.

Suddenly his nails grew a lot longer. He took the scalpel and sharpened them slowly and deliberately. This new development made her swallow. What was this freak? A groan was issued from Rumor. Absentmindedly Jack kicked her in the head. Once more Rumor fell silent. Vanya looked at her sister with concern.

"Don't worry about…heh her," he said dismissively, "She'll be…heh…fine. Heh, I was considering leaving anyway. Things are..heh..getting heated. Not before a, heh, quick snack though."

"A long time ago I was the…heh… scourge of London," he continued, "It used to, heh, be 'Lock your doors or Springheel Jack will eat your…heh…children!' Then it was, heh, 'Jack the, heh, Ripper strikes again!' Now I'm operating block by heh…block in a small area code. Can you, heh, even **begin **to realize how…heh humiliating that is?"

Her lips felt incredibly heavy or she would've made a remark about how he should've just stayed in England then.

"Now eating, heh, children is fine. They've got so many potential years ahead of…heh…them. At best you've only, heh, got forty. I live off of…heh…potential energy. Keeps me alive like, heh, food. So I did that for awhile. Ate…heh…children. But then I, heh ,found something much better," he said as he finished filing his nails into points.

At this point her eyes twitched slightly when he came closer.

"Heh…eating them before they're born," he continued, "heh, gives me much more potential energy. Not to, heh, mention it tastes better. Unfortunately heh…removing them tends to kill the women."

He raised his hand, the sharpness glinting in the light.

"The drug I gave you should…heh…keep you from moving around too, heh, much. And don't heh…worry, this should all be over in a matter of minutes. Ten at…heh…most."

Gathering what little strength she had she managed to roll off of the table and onto the floor. His hand left a dent in the metal where she would've been.

"That's what…heh…I meant about making this difficult!" he raged, picking her up by her short hair.

Pain went coursed from her head down. His sharp nails cut into her scalp. A few trickles of blood went down her face and made her eyes sting. Snarling he slammed her back on the table. Vanya saw stars and knew that the impact would leave bruises.

"Stay still this time," he muttered angrily, "I am heh…trying to save you from, heh, unnecessary pain."

A fist slammed into Springheel Jack's face, knocking him backwards into the wall. Jack quickly recovered and did a back flip so that he could face the offender. He glared at him.

"We sure as hell aren't going to show you the same courtesy," snarled Kraken as the remaining members of the Umbrella Academy filed into the room.

"Springheel Jack, major mythological character in England," said Spaceboy, "especially around the London area. First conceived by parents as a way to get children to behave. Or so they thought. I am going to have to ask you to step away from my sister."

"Adopted sister," Jack hissed, "I can…heh…tell. Heh…you smell like, heh, that. You **smell **adopted."

"I don't smell!" said Séance, hurt.

"You're going to have a hard time smelling anything when your fucking nose has been cut off," snapped Kraken as he unsheathed his knife.

"Astute observation," said .05 cooly, "Now if you would kindly do as Space asks, then perhaps you won't have superheroes killing you. Besides, we have to make this quick. My favorite diner closes in half an hour."

"I've read the…heh...tabloids," sneered Jack, "Superheroes, heh, have to like…heh each other."

"That's a nasty cough there," Séance noted, "Do you need a cough drop? Because I've got some ones that taste like cherry-"

"What the hell have you done to Vanya?" snapped Kraken.

"Just, heh, temporarily paralyzed," said Jack dismissively, "You ask a lot of…heh…questions."

"Answer me damn it!"

"You're the, heh, father, right?" continued Jack.

As Kraken hadn't shared his knowledge with the rest of the group, there was more then one 'What the hell did he just say?' looks on their faces.

"Step away," growled Kraken, "or having to spend the rest of your life with a colostomy bag will be the least of your worries."

"What?…Heh do you like the idea of being, heh, a father or, heh, something?" asked Jack distastefully.

"For the last time," snarled Kraken, "**Step. Away. From. Them. Now.**"

"Heh, make me," Jack hissed.

Never needing an invitation to start a fight Kraken threw his knife. It hit the wall where Springheel Jack had been only moments before. Now he was sinking his nails into the flesh of Kraken's neck, narrowly missing the jugular. Blood trickled from the wound. Spaceboy grabbed Jack by the back of his head and threw him to the floor.

He started to get up but Séance quickly moved a nearby side-table. Throwing out his hand he moved it forward. The table slammed into Jack, splintering as it did so. Jack fell to the floor and lay still.

"That was easy," remarked .05.

Five seconds later a filing cabinet flew forwards, smacking Séance into the opposite wall. The wall behind him collapsed and not even Space could see how many meters back he flew. Getting to his feet Jack hissed at the remaining members, his nails growing out longer.

"Not, heh, yet," sneered Jack.

Spaceboy took out his laser gun just as Jack was about to charge. Jack laid himself flat on the floor as the beam shot above him, leaving a scorch mark on the wall. Space fired another shot. Moving quickly Jack clung to the ceiling and snarled ferally.

"Now you're…heh…starting to piss me off," he hissed, "I'm…heh **hungry** now."

As Space went to fire another shot as Jack scooped up a tray. On it were at least eight surgical instruments, laid out as though someone was about to get a bypass. Wrenching his arm back he threw the contents of the tray at Space's face. He managed to move out of the way of most of them. Of course, most being the operative term. One sliced his cheek and the other went through his shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

Howling with laughter at Space's obvious pain Jack moved out of the way of .05's attack.

"You're, heh, older then you look…heh kid," Jack laughed, "But so am I…heh. I'm at least one, heh, thousand years your senior. Heh, You're going to have to get up a lot earlier to, heh pull a fast one on me."

As he said this he pulled back his hand and slashed his nails across .05's back. Fabric and skin ripped with a grating noise .05 gritted his teeth as he fell to the floor, landing near his unconscious sister.

"All you've, heh, managed to heh…do is whet my appetite," said Jack satisfied," Piece of, heh advice you won't, heh, need. Never get between a man and, heh his."

As he leaned over to finish .05 off he stopped suddenly. A mixture between a grunt and growl came from his throat. Slowly but surely red started to stain his shirt. Looking down at the wound almost quizzically he put his fingers on it.

"I could say the same thing you ugly fucker," growled Kraken as he forced the knife sideways.

Intestines spilled out from the new wound and Jack made a low keening of pain. Slowly he sunk to his knees. Withdrawing his knife from him Kraken sheathed it. Then he placed both of his hands on the sides of Jack's head. A loud snapping was heard as Kraken twisted his neck. Fury still radiating from him he watched Jack's twitches slowly become less and less frequent before they faded into nothing.

"Alright?" he asked both of his brothers.

"I liked this shirt," hissed .05 angrily.

Spaceboy ripped the bayoneted surgical instrument from his arm. He winced as it dropped to the floor.

"I've had worse," he said, "Where's Séa-?"

"What I miss?" asked Séance as he hobbled into the room looking slightly dazed.

"Fine," said Kraken, taking deep and deliberate breaths, "You get Allison. I've got Vanya."

He walked over to Vanya and picked her up bridal-style. Gently he shifted her so that she would be more comfortable.

"When you get your motor activity back," he whispered, "I think it's safe to say we need to talk."


	12. Chapter 12: To the End

_If you marry me,  
Would you bury me?  
Would you carry me to the end?_

Kraken had laid her out on the bed when they got home. Then he'd pulled up a chair, taken off his mask, and waited patiently. Part of Vanya had prayed that she would remain paralyzed forever. It would be better that way, she reflected. She knew that it would always end up like this, but she hadn't wanted it to.

.

.

.

With an icepack clutched to her forehead Rumor groaned as Spaceboy asked the fateful question again;

"You knew?"

"Yes!" she wrote irritably.

"And you didn't tell us why?" he asked.

"Why should I tell you?" she wrote furiously, "It was none of your business! Why would it be your business? Moron!"

Slightly taken back Space fell silent. Angrily she wondered why she ever thought that he could love her. He obviously couldn't, or wouldn't care about her. She expected him to come back in a few minutes with a speech about being a family, a team. After that she would write something derogatory, throw it at him, and then go upstairs. Surprisingly he pulled a chair out of the table and sat down.

"I was never a good brother," he started, waving his hand vaguely, "And I failed to gel with any of you really well. I wanted to be able to do something right, and the role of leadership just ended up falling to me."

She started to write something down but he shook his head.

"I'm not making excuses," he said, "I just want you to understand. After my accident I felt incredibly ashamed of what I'd become. I wasn't normal anymore. My secret dream of a white picket fence and 2.5 children had disappeared completely with that trip.

After that I just sort of shut down. I took the easy way out and used work as an escape. Because of that I've become inept at handling situations like these. Just a few hours ago I was wishing for some sort of manual to help me try to understand what I should do when it came to you. I've wanted a manual for my whole life or in the very least an erase button."

Quickly she wrote down;

"You don't have to get all touchy-feely. Just tell me that you don't want this and I can move on."

He waved away her reply.  
"Let me finish," he said, "It might not seem like I really gave a damn what was happening with you or with anyone else for that matter for most of our lives. But remember what I said to you the night the world nearly ended. I meant it."

As he finished he got up from the table and started to walk out.

"Furthermore," he muttered, "I want you to know that I never wanted to kiss you since I was eight."

Rumor sighed and looked down at the table. A few tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

"It was seven."

Her head shot up.

"That's all I wanted to-"

Space was cut off as Rumor threw herself into his arms.

.

.

.

"I know you can move now," Kraken said.

It was three hours later and Vanya met this response with mixed feelings. On the one hand her muscles were starting to ache from staying in one place for so long. On the other hand she didn't want to talk to him. However, she knew that she couldn't hide anymore. With great reluctance she forced herself into a sitting position.

"That's better," he said.

Getting up from the chair he sat down beside her on the bed. He paused for a minute before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"You can tell me," he murmured, "Tell me everything. How long have you known?"

Biting her lip she replied;

"Nearly two weeks."

"Since the yetis?"

"It was that morning."

A few seconds of silence passed between them.

"I'm supposing that that's what the anti-depressants were for?"

"Yes."

"I didn't…you don't want children," muttered Kraken, "I'm sorry."

Tears pricked to corner of her eyes.

"That's not it Diego," managed Vanya, "I wanted children some day. But I don't know how to be a mother."

"Women generally figure it out," he said flatly.

More tears joined in the corner of her eyes until she was crying. Vanya did it so much these days. Kraken looked at her, surprised and turned her head to face his. He wiped away a few of them with his thumb.

"It's not all that bad," he murmured.

"That's not it," she blurted, "You don't want to be a father. I know that much. Why don't you say it? I knew you would be upset about it, and I…after everything…how could I lose you now over something that's supposed to be good?"

Kraken stared at her in shock for a few seconds, then his grip around her tightened.

"This was my fault," he hissed to himself, "It really was my fault."

"It's not-"

"Vanya," he said, putting a hand under her chin so that their eyes were level, "I am not the world's greatest anything. Brother, friend, boyfriend. I really fuck all those titles up. But I try."

"I know you do," she said, "I recognize it and I love that about you it's just-"

"Well here's me fucking up boyfriend," he continued, "The very fact that you thought I would freak says something about me. Maybe if you'd told me to my face I would've. That…that would've been unfair for both you and our child. You see… I can honestly say that I never thought about having children. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and I still do. I just never really thought about that particular aspect. It's something that I should've done.

Now I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. Because it would be a damned lie if I said that the idea of being a father isn't one of the only things in my life that has scared me shitless."

He paused for a minute as if he were searching for words.

"But like everything in life that I think is worth it," he said, slowly and deliberately, "I am willing to try. I'm willing to try for you and for the child that's with you now. When that freak was in the room…I thought about protecting both of you. That was the first and only thing that came into my mind. I haven't killed someone that brutally since you…well, you know."

Suddenly the 'them' in his phrases of threat to Jack made sense. It hadn't been about her and Rumor after all.

"Besides," he whispered as he leaned into her ear, "the concept of being the first half-way decent father in this whole family is quite appealing."

Vanya's lips crashed into his as tears of relief fell thick from her eyes. All that time of being afraid had been for nothing. Vanya had never been so happy to be so completely wrong. She kissed him deeply from that joy, the joy of him loving her like that, and the joy that the future was no longer looking quite so dreadful. It took Kraken a full five minutes to even realize what was going on before he let his hands slide up the sides of her face. When they pulled apart she murmured;

"I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too Vanya," he murmured, cradling her face in his hands, "Always."


	13. Chapter 13: The Sharpest Lives

_Away with the boys in the band  
I've really been on a bender and it shows  
So why don't you blow me a kiss before she goes?  
Give me a shot to remember  
And you can take all the pain away from me  
_

"I think we should use room 354," a doctor said as he looked at a clipboard.

"No," the orderly blurted suddenly.

The doctor looked up suddenly and fixed the orderly with a sneering look. Sometimes the orderly wished that Kraken would just drop dead.

"Excuse me?" the doctor asked, his eyebrows raised.

"There's a relative of one of the trustees in there," the orderly said, inventing rapidly, "Off the books."

Understanding dawned on the doctor's face.

"Alright then. But how did you know?"

"I'm on the help staff," the orderly said promptly.

"Ah," said the doctor as he cleared his throat, "Then I won't keep you. Just concentrate on that for the rest of the day, alright?"

The orderly nodded and inwardly sighed as he walked away. Every time he did something for Kraken he kept swearing it was the last time. There was something about the way that Kraken fiddled with his knife that made him want to be accommodating though. To be fair Kraken hadn't actually asked much of him in the past seven months. When he'd come back though, it had been a doozy.

"This room generally holds big-weight patients," the orderly said as he walked in and closed the door behind him, "Politician type patients and celebrities. So when I say that I had to bend over backwards to make it seem like it was already full, I mean it."

"The last thing we need right now is complaining," scribbled Rumor.

"How long is this supposed to last?" Vanya asked, trying to take calming breaths but failing. It was obvious that she was keeping herself together with threads.

"I don't know," the orderly shrugged, "I'm not a doctor yet so I don't really…""Well find someone who does!" wrote Rumor irritably.

"My choices were kind of limited," he said tiredly, "Considering that I had to find **good** doctors who won't spill. They're friends of mine. They should be here soon…"

"So when did contractions start?" a young doctor asked as he and two others filed into the room.

"Thank God you guys are here," he leaned closer to the first one and whispered, "She's about ready to kill me."

"I'll try to avoid that," the doctor said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Iero, this is Dr. Bryar and this is Orderly Toro. We're here to try to make this as painless as possible."

Orderly Toro simply stood staring at Rumor.

"When I was younger I used to have a poster of you guys," he said absently.

"Ahem," said Dr. Iero, "I ask again. How long ago did the contractions start?"

"Two hours ago," wrote Rumor.

"Well then," Dr. Bryar said, "Then we're looking at about six hours before delivery."

This was obviously not what she wanted to hear. Groaning she leaned her head back into the pillows. Rumor simply sighed and massaged her temples.

"So," remarked Orderly Toro, "Where's the father?"

The look Rumor shot him was venom.

"Out saving the world smart-ass," she wrote.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Has he even been informed?" Dr. Iero asked the orderly to the side.

"They left the house too quickly. I hear he's with his brothers somewhere in Siberia right now," the orderly sighed, "They left the information with their mom who had to stay behind and watch the Rumor's daughter. In other words, he's probably going to hear it when he get's back. Good thing he made the arrangements beforehand. He's going to be pissed enough when he gets back."

"Well," said Dr. Bryar as he turned to the two sisters, "There's not a lot we can do until the actual time of delivery. Of course, it could be shorter then six hours from now. Our constant presence isn't actually needed until that time. But seeing how this is a special case we're going to make a bit of an exception here."

Four hours passed and Vanya was growing increasingly uncomfortable. Rumor had turned on the TV in an attempt to take Vanya's mind off of what was going on. It was some over the top soap opera and even Rumor was only watching it half-heartedly.

"But we can go to prison for that!" one of the characters said dramatically.

"We can't go to prison!" one of them, "You know what they do to guys like us in prison!"

Vanya looked at the clock almost nervously for what must've been the eighteenth time in the past five minutes.

"I'm sure he's on his way," Rumor signed reassuringly.

Sighing Vanya bit her lip as another wave of pain washed over her. Dr. Iero checked her vitals and shook his head.

"Still a few more hours to go," he said.

Sighing again Vanya ran her hands through her hair. Rumor put her hand on her sister's shoulder in a comforting gesture. Dr. Iero walked back to the medical staff, which, with nothing better to do, had lapsed into conversation.

"Look," Dr. Bryar said, "When I die, I want to get buried in black. Know what I mean? That way I'm already in mourning."

"That's not a fashion statement," Orderly Toro said in disgust, "that's a death wish. Talk about tacky."

"It's so not tacky," said Dr. Bryar, "I was just telling Gabriel and Mikey the other day that black is probably the classiest color you can get."

"Not at your own funeral," said Orderly Toro.

"I'm going outside for a smoke alright?" said the orderly tiredly.

The rest of the staff looked at him.

"You don't smoke," said Orderly Toro.

"Look, it's one in the morning and if I don't get some sort of stimulant in my system then I'm going to drop dead," he hissed.

"We don't have any cigarettes," pointed out Dr. Iero.

"Then I'll just go outside!" he snapped, "Everyone's a critic."

Walking out of the room he went quickly down the hallway. Four flights of stairs later he was in front of the building, leaning up against it and breathing in the freezing night air. Suddenly his peace was interrupted when a voice growled;

"Where?"

The orderly started. He turned around to see the snow-covered Hargreeves boys and a rather anxious Kraken. The orderly had known Kraken for awhile. He knew that Kraken didn't really get anxious. He just got angrier.

"Follow me," he said, knowing that he was in for a very long morning.


	14. Chapter 14: Welcome to the Black Parade

_Let's shout it loud and clear  
Defiant to the end we hear the call  
To carry on  
We'll carry on_

"Personally I think that the greatest threat were those Teenagers," said Dr. Bryar, "You know, the ones with the murder machine? The Vampires weren't that bad. Everyone says that Vampires will never hurt you."

"You're full of it," snorted Orderly Toro, "It was most definitely the Vampires."

"They were vegetarians," Dr. Bryar argued, "they bit brussel spro-"

"The Dad's here," said the orderly rather sulkily as he walked up.

Both of the med staff looked behind him. There was a definite lack of people.

"Are you hallucinating because of lack of sleep or something?" asked Dr. Bryar slowly.

Sighing the orderly gestured to the ceiling.

"They didn't want media attention," said the orderly tiredly.

Both men stood gaping at the ceiling.

"You know," said Séance, "This is actually rather uncomfortable. We would appreciate it if you opened the door."

Dr. Bryar nodded slowly. Not taking his eyes off of the men for one second he opened it. Before anyone knew anything all of the Hargreeve brothers had slipped in. The orderly closed the door as the remainder of the medical staff shuffled in.

Kraken walked over to where Vanya was on the hospital bed. She was seemingly asleep. Dr. Iero was sitting on a chair next to her, his back turned towards the door. Rumor looked up from her magazine. Rolling her eyes she scribbled;

"It's about time."

"Televator broke," supplied Space.

Dr. Iero frowned and was about to turn around when Kraken clamped a hand on his shoulder. He gave out a muffled squeal as he swiveled around.

"Don't do that!" he hissed.

Kraken raised his eyebrows before narrowing his eyes.

"Please?" added Dr. Iero as he saw Kraken's expression.

Deeming that sufficient Kraken asked;

"How is she?"

"Fine, but exhausted," said Dr. Iero, "She needed rest so I gave her some drugs for that. Just to numb the pains and let her sleep for awhile. She's going to need it."

Nodding once Kraken fixed his gaze on Dr. Iero's chair. Sighing Dr. Iero got up and took one of the side seats.

"I shouldn't have been so late," Kraken muttered to himself.

"At least you're here," Rumor wrote as Space walked over to her, "Patrick wasn't even in the City when Claire was born."

"Well we all know what a loser he was," Space said as he leaned against the wall.

Smiling almost mischievously at him she wrote down, making sure that only he could see it;

"I had pretty bad taste in men. Of course, the past tense is stressed."

Something akin to a blush came on Space's face and he looked away while Rumor gave her silent laugh. An hour and a half later or so Vanya started to show signs of waking up.

"Everyone out of the room," said Kraken, "**NOW**."

"That'd be Kraken's subtle way of asking you to leave," smirked .05 as they filed out into an adjoining room.

"What's the blunt way?" asked Orderly Toro.

"Hitting you with a chair while he says it," .05 answered.

"Should've known," snorted the orderly.

Slowly Vanya opened her eyes. It took her awhile to focus, but she smiled when she did so.

"Hey Diego," she mumbled.

"Sorry for being late," he said, "I didn't even bring flowers or anything."

"Should you have?" asked Vanya.

"Allison says I should've," he shrugged, "Well, that was before we had to go and save Siberia from a group of Astro Zombies. Laser guns and an insatiable appetite for human brains. Never a good combination."

A weak giggle escaped from Vanya's lips.

"That was nothing," he said, smiling, "After them there was this jumbo jet that blew-"

He stopped abruptly as Vanya furrowed her brown in pain.

"Do I need to call the doctor in?" he asked hurriedly.

"Not for awhile I think," she said, "Just another contraction. They've been coming and going for the past few hours."

"Does it hurt much?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" Vanya questioned, "You got to do the fun part while I have to do all the work."

"I did say sorry."

"Good enough."

He paused for a second before asking his next question.

"Thought up any names?"

"A few," she said.

"Any ones you like?" he asked.

"I am partial to the name Tony, if it's a boy that is."

"Tony?"

"Well, Tony for short," mused Vanya, "Anthony would probably be the full name. I've never been into naming kids after their parents. Can you imagine being named Reginald?"

Kraken's face scrunched up in disgust.

"I would've killed myself."

Vanya smirked.

"How about you? Any ideas?"

"Strangely enough yes," he said, "A girl name actually. What about Helena?"

For a minute Vanya looked thoughtful.

"That could work. It's a pretty name."

"Thought you might like it."

Once again Vanya's eyes scrunched up.

"Another contraction?" he asked.

"Yes, but-" she stopped talking with a hiss of pain.

"Vanya?" Kraken asked, starting to get a scared look in his eyes.

"Not…like the…others," she breathed, "More…painful. Get the…doctors in here… **NOW**."

"Already here," said Dr. Iero as he moved quickly into the room.

At Kraken's inquisitive glance he merely shrugged and held up his watch hand.

"I've been keeping track of time. Bob, Ray, get in here!"

Dr. Bryar and Orderly Toro practically jumped into the room. The orderly ran off to try and get some more equipment. The rest of the family stood rather far off. Rumor had noted that the room was quite big enough to hold them all, but that the last thing they wanted to do was crowd Vanya.

"And don't hold her hand," she wrote to Kraken, "Pregnant women have been known to break their husband's hands."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he snapped, the only member of the family who was staying near.

The orderly sincerely hoped he would. Treating an angry Kraken whose hand had been crushed by his lover was not how he wanted to spend the next few hours. Dealing with the newest addition to the Hargreeves family was more than enough to last him for the day. Actually, he'd have more than enough to last him for the next week.

Several minutes passed with Dr. Iero trying to calm Vanya who was having a hard time breathing.

"Just take it slow," he urged gently, "You're doing really well. You hear? You're doing really well."

It had just turned seven thirty when the child was born.

"It's a girl," Dr. Bryar murmured, looking strangely at the child.

Vanya slumped backwards, looking exhausted but pleased with herself. All of the medical staff crowded around the new child, sharing worried glances with each other. Even so none of them said a word and none of them made a move to let the parents or relatives see her. Irritably Kraken growled;

"Enough of the ogling. Can the **parents **her now?"

Slowly Dr. Iero turned to look at Kraken, facing the floor.

"I don't know how to say this…" he started before trailing off miserably.

"What?!" Kraken snapped.

"She…she…" Dr. Iero swallowed hard before saying, "She isn't breathing. And judging from the hue of her skin she hasn't been taking in oxygen for at least seven hours. I'm sorry."


	15. Chapter 15: The End

_You've got front row seats to the penitence ball  
When I grow up I want to be nothing at all!  
I said yeah, yeah!  
I said yeah, yeah!_

No one moved. It was as though time had been startled into a standstill. For once even Séance seemed to actually be shocked. The word 'noise' seemed to have lost its meaning to the occupants of the room. Silence hung over them like a thick blanket, choking all of them.

Finally it was Vanya who broke the silence. What seemed like a half-gasp and a half-sob issued from her lips. Dr. Iero looked sharply up. He moved quickly to the hospital bed.

"She's hyperventilating," he hissed, "Can I have some help over here?"

Swallowing hard Dr. Bryar came over. The two orderlies were left with the small child, staring at each other helplessly. At long last the orderly swallowed and said;

"I'll…I'll take care of…her. You help out."

Orderly Toro nodded and moved to assist the other two. Shooting a sympathetic look at Kraken and Vanya he carefully carried their child out. Rumor walked up to Kraken, who had moved closer to Vanya's bed since the announcement had been made. She put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to say how sorry she was for him without use of her notepad. Almost immediately he shrugged it off.

At long last the medical staff finally managed to get Vanya breathing normally. Each of them then moved away, looking as though they wanted to be just about anywhere else. Kraken however moved closer. Vanya was looking straight ahead at the wall as if nothing else interested her.

Rumor grabbed Space's arm and leaned into his chest. She had been so involved in helping Vanya and had been looking forward to seeing her have a child of her own and being happy. Séance looked down at the floor. .05 looked out the window. Much as he had pretended not to care he had thought that having a new niece would be interesting.

Kraken sat on the edge of Vanya's hospital bed. Tentatively he touched her cheek and asked;

"Vanya?"

Tears spilled from her eye and sobs racked her body. Her hands were planted to her face, trying to wipe away her tears. Without saying one word Kraken wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his forehead to hers as the two of them mourned the loss of a child that could've been.

.

.

.

The orderly sighed as he entered the morgue. Carefully he placed the tiny child on one of the metal tables. She'd never even been alive. Almost angrily he ran his hands through his hair and walked towards the end of the morgue hallway. He didn't really have the heart to do this. He had to though.

When he first started working at the morgue he'd been shown the tiny cabinets towards the end of the hall. They were for young children and babies. At the time he'd shuddered inwardly. He'd worked at the Hospital for three years now, and he had been lucky enough to never be on shift when one of them had been needed. Well, not anymore anyways.

There was a separate key for them. It was like all of the hospital staff wanted to forget about that part of the hall they already despised. His footsteps clattered on the floor. There was something bothering him. At the back of his mind he kept thinking that there was something he was forgetting, something big. Shaking the odd and rather disconcerting feeling off and continued walking.

Children didn't come down here, and they didn't belong here. The cold climate was hard on the people who worked there, let alone a delicate child. If left unattended for awhile the child could actually die from that. He stopped. Where had that thought come from? Once again the nagging feeling came back. What was going on? What was he forgetting? And furthermore, why was it all so important?

Suddenly it hit him. At break neck speed he ran back to the front of the morgue. How could he have overlooked this? He only hoped that he wasn't too late.

.

.

.

"Everyone!" yelled the orderly as he ran in, "There's been a mistake!"

All of the doctors looked at their friend as if he'd gone insane. The Umbrella Academy looked up. Space narrowed his eyes.

"If you would mind," he hissed.

"Look, listen to me," he said, "Think about all of this. Who are all of you? Whose father is the child?"

"Me," growled Kraken, "Now I don't feel like wiping the floor with you so-"

"Exactly!" said the orderly excitedly, "The father is the one person in the world that **doesn't have to breathe**."

The entire room was once more silent as his words sank in. Only this time it was an eager, anxious silence. Vanya raised her head and looked up hopefully. The orderly walked out of the room and came back in pushing a hospital bassinet. He pushed it triumphantly up to the couple.

"It looks like she's inherited her father's talent," he said.

Curious and slightly confused eyes looked up at Kraken and Vanya. With a suppressed sob Vanya gently lifted the child into her arms.

"Helena," she murmured softly.

Kraken looked up at the orderly.

"Thanks Gerard."

Gerard looked surprised.

"You got my name right," he said.

"I won't make a habit of it," shrugged Kraken before looking back at his newborn daughter.

"She's got your eyes," Kraken said.

A chubby fist fixed itself around Vanya's finger and pulled hard.

"And your temper," she laughed.

Kraken smiled. The medical staff moved around Gerard, Orderly Toro patting him on his back. A few tears forced their way out of Vanya's eyes as Kraken placed his arm around her shoulders. The rest of the Academy moved closer, eager to see the new Hargreeve.


End file.
